With a struggling economy comes the inherent urge to “frugalize” as much as you can with regards to your online marketing budget.  For the most part, when a client is struggling with paying the bills - cutting the Pay Per Click budget is the first discussion we have.

 This is a mistake, a big mistake - and can handicap revenue potential that is even MORE important to have in place in a struggling market.  For the most part, Pay Per Click ads can drive THE MOST RELEVANT traffic to your site - quickly, easily, and instantly - and relevant traffic is easier to sell on what you’re offering.

Clients that want to cut BACK on PPC spending can do so, without completely turning off the campaigns.  I recommend trimming the expensive and competitive terms first - they’re spending a ton of money, on very few clicks.  Leave your “long tail” terms running and NEVER, EVER forget your brand.

Bidding on your brand in PPCs is somewhat counter-intuitive to most business owners.  You’re already ranking well for that term, so why buy an ad, too?  Let me show you why.

This snap is from a client that runs a vacation rental management firm in the South.  I’m blacking out the keyword to protect their identity because I don’t have permission to use it, but they’re basically bidding on their two word brand name  - something like “XYZ Realty.”

Click imagine for full size Snap

 As you can see, the current bid is $.20 per click - but we’re averaging around $.11 per click.  The CTR is an outstanding 20.10%.  They’re getting UBER qualified traffic for a very low cost investment. 

I also looked at the brand focused campaigns for a Midwestern hotel chain with 8 properties.  Each property runs its own branded campaign for their location.  There are 8 locations and a state focused branding campaign being run, so 9 campaigns total.  The averages for this client with regards to their paid search branding focus are further evidence that you can’t afford to ignore your brand in search.  Overall the campaigns averaged 646 clicks and a 20.98% CTR in 2007.  They also paid an average of $0.11 PER CLICK for that traffic - amazing.  The most astounding part of this is that each campaign averaged a cost of $86.11 - for the year.  That’s not $86.11 a month - that’s $86.11 for the year, for an average of 646 clicks.  How can you afford to NOT take advantage of that?

I’ve heard in different presentations at conferences that an organic listing (the free google results along the left side of the page) is two-thirds more likely to receive a click when supported by a paid listing with the same domain.  The 2 ads in the top 10 add credibility to each other.

So if you’re thinking about cutting back your pay per click advertising - think long and hard.  Reallocating HOW you’re doing may be more beneficial than turning them off completely.

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Categories: SEM.
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